SEB: Third quarter of 2012: Operating profit SEK 3,916m (3,709)

"Operating profit was robust in a quarter characterised by increased uncertainty. Operating income grew five per cent compared to a year ago," says Annika Falkengren, SEB's President and CEO, commenting on the third quarter 2012 result.

"We have continued to focus on our three strategic growth areas: the Nordic and German corporate franchise, Swedish SMEs and long-term savings. We can now leverage these scalable platforms as we have gained 276 new large corporate customers and almost 30,000 new Swedish SME customers since the expansion started in 2010."

"SEB's already strengthened balance sheet has improved further. Liquidity reserves amount to 22 per cent of the total assets and all funding maturing in 2012 has been replaced at lower funding costs. The level of net credit losses was 6 basis points and non-performing loans have decreased every quarter since the end of 2009. Capital ratios in all dimensions - old or new regulatory frameworks - have increased since 2009."

"The organic growth strategy and derisking of the balance sheet have reduced volatility and contributed to good stability in the businesses. For customers, the importance of a customer-centric and financially strong bank increases as the outlook for the real economy gets more uncertain and the regulatory framework is yet to be finalised. Resilience and flexibility remain key guiding principles to us in SEB."

The liquidity coverage ratio was 154 per cent, the core liquidity reserve amounted to SEK 352bn and the total liquid resources were SEK 524bn. The core Tier 1 capital ratio was 16.5 per cent (13.7 at year-end).

SEB is a leading Nordic financial services group. As a relationship bank, SEBin Sweden and the Baltic countries offers financial advice and a wide range of financial services. In Denmark, Finland, Norway and Germany the bank's operations have a strong focus on corporate and investment banking based on a full-service offering to corporate and institutional clients. The international nature of SEB's business is reflected in its presence in some 20 countries worldwide. At 30 September 2012, the Group's total assets amounted to SEK 2,402 billion while its assets under management totalled SEK 1,271 billion. The Group has around 17,000 employees. Read more about SEBat www.sebgroup.com.